“The Boston Marathon is the holy of holies for runners, and now they’re messing with the thing that everybody loves, and anybody who has an appreciation for what the Boston Marathon stands for takes this personally,” says Chris Field, a College Station, Texas, marathon race director and creator of the “Run for Boston” Facebook project. “Runners are doing what runners do, and that is putting our shoes on and getting back out there, even when we get knocked down.”

“Run for Boston” expects to hold hundreds of runs across the US and even in Banff, Alberta, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The runs are expected to draw anywhere from dozens to handfuls of runners, including one runner in Mountain View, Calif., who vowed to give “an extra hard kick for the last 1.4 miles in remembrance.”

Participants are being asked to post photos to the "Run For Boston 4/17" Facebook page, and the images will then be published as a coffee-table book and sent to the Boston Marathon organizers.

This morning, several hundred runners set off from California's Santa Monica Pier on a hastily arranged marathon. Runners in Waco, Texas, planned a running vigil this evening, turning a regular Wednesday night run into something deeper and more profound.